IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/qjecon/v113y1998i2p331-360..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recombinant Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Martin L. Weitzman

Abstract

This paper attempts to provide microfoundations for the knowledge production function in an idea-based growth model. Production of new ideas is made a function of newly reconfigured old ideas in the spirit of the way an agricultural research station develops improved plant varieties by cross-pollinating existing plant varieties. The model shows how knowledge can build upon itself in a combinatoric feedback process that may have significant implications for economic growth. The paper's main theme is that the ultimate limits to growth lie not so much in our ability to generate new ideas as in our ability to process an abundance of potentially new ideas into usable form.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin L. Weitzman, 1998. "Recombinant Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 331-360.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:113:y:1998:i:2:p:331-360.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1162/003355398555595
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benjamin F. Jones, 2009. "The Burden of Knowledge and the "Death of the Renaissance Man": Is Innovation Getting Harder?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(1), pages 283-317.
    2. Robert J. Barro, 2013. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(1), pages 121-144, May.
    3. R. Cowan & N. Jonard & J. -B. Zimmermann, 2007. "Evolving networks of inventors," Springer Books, in: Uwe Cantner & Franco Malerba (ed.), Innovation, Industrial Dynamics and Structural Transformation, pages 129-148, Springer.
    4. Ishtiaq P. Mahmood & Will Mitchell, 2004. "Two Faces: Effects of Business Groups on Innovation in Emerging Economies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(10), pages 1348-1365, October.
    5. Shekhar Aiyar & Carl-Johan Dalgaard & Omer Moav, 2008. "Technological progress and regress in pre-industrial times," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 125-144, June.
    6. Maria Rosaria Carillo & Erasmo Papagni & Fabian Capitanio, 2008. "Effects of social interactions on scientists' productivity," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 263-279, June.
    7. Sören Wibe & Ola Carlén, 2006. "Is Post-War Economic Growth Exponential?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 39(2), pages 147-156, June.
    8. Philip Auerswald, 2008. "Entrepreneurship in the Theory of the Firm," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 111-126, February.
    9. Ola Olsson, 2005. "Technological Opportunity and Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 31-53, January.
    10. Nirvikar Singh, 2008. "Transaction costs, information technology and development," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 1(2), pages 212-236, September.
    11. Rik Wenting, 2008. "Spinoff dynamics and the spatial formation of the fashion design industry, 1858-2005," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(5), pages 593-614, September.
    12. Hendrik Hakenes & Andreas Irmen, 2007. "On the long-run evolution of technological knowledge," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 30(1), pages 171-180, January.
    13. Mauro Caminati, 2006. "Knowledge growth, complexity and the returns to R&D," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 207-229, August.
    14. Bryane Michael, 2004. "Explaining organizational change in international development: the role of complexity in anti-corruption work," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(8), pages 1067-1088.
    15. Pier Saviotti & Koen Frenken, 2008. "Export variety and the economic performance of countries," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 201-218, April.
    16. Sea-Jin Chang & Chi-Nien Chung & Ishtiaq P. Mahmood, 2006. "When and How Does Business Group Affiliation Promote Firm Innovation? A Tale of Two Emerging Economies," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 637-656, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chang-Yang Lee & Ji-Hwan Lee & Ajai S. Gaur, 2017. "Are large business groups conducive to industry innovation? The moderating role of technological appropriability," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 313-337, June.
    2. Enrico Guzzini & Donato Iacobucci, 2014. "Ownership as R&D incentive in business groups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 119-135, June.
    3. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2011. "The Dynamics of Knowledge Diversity and Economic Growth," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 77(4), pages 856-884, April.
    4. Sharon Belenzon & Ulya Tsolmon, 2016. "Market frictions and the competitive advantage of internal labor markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1280-1303, July.
    5. Min, Yijie & Liao, Yi-Chuan & Chen, Zhijun, 2022. "The side effect of business group membership: How do business group isomorphic pressures affect organizational innovation in affiliated firms?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 380-392.
    6. Wang, Chengqi & Yi, Jingtao & Kafouros, Mario & Yan, Yanni, 2015. "Under what institutional conditions do business groups enhance innovation performance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 694-702.
    7. Kim, Youngok & Lui, Steven S., 2015. "The impacts of external network and business group on innovation: Do the types of innovation matter?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1964-1973.
    8. Anand Nandkumar & Kannan Srikanth, 2016. "Right person in the right place: How the host country IPR influences the distribution of inventors in offshore R&D projects of multinational enterprises," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1715-1733, August.
    9. Simon Wiederhold, 2012. "The Role of Public Procurement in Innovation: Theory and Empirical Evidence," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 43.
    10. Sumon K. Bhaumik & Ying Zhou, 2014. "Do business groups help or hinder technological progress in emerging markets? Evidence from India," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp1066, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    11. Kyunga Na & Kwangsoo Shin, 2019. "The Gender Effect on a Firm’s Innovative Activities in the Emerging Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, April.
    12. Hicheon Kim & Heechun Kim & Peggy M. Lee, 2008. "Ownership Structure and the Relationship Between Financial Slack and R&D Investments: Evidence from Korean Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 404-418, June.
    13. Fulvio, Castellacci, 2012. "Business Groups, Innovation and Institutional Voids in Latin America," MPRA Paper 41481, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Pradhan, Jaya Prakash, 2011. "Regional heterogeneity and firms’ innovation: the role of regional factors in industrial R&D in India," MPRA Paper 28096, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Orsatti, Gianluca & Quatraro, Francesco & Pezzoni, Michele, 2020. "The antecedents of green technologies: The role of team-level recombinant capabilities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    16. Shuping Li & Sai Yayavaram, 2021. "Attenuating the negative effects of network change on innovation: A whole network level analysis of Taiwanese business groups," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 151-177, March.
    17. Koen Frenken & Ron A. Boschma, 2012. "Economic Development as a Branching Process," Chapters, in: Guido Buenstorf (ed.), Evolution, Organization and Economic Behavior, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Surenderrao Komera & P. J. Jijo Lukose & Subash Sasidharan, 2018. "Does business group affiliation encourage R&D activities? Evidence from India," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 887-917, December.
    19. Wioletta Mierzejewska & Maria Aluchna & Emilia Tomczyk, 2023. "Do coopetition and cohesion of business groups stimulate their innovation performance?," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 50(2), pages 153-168, June.
    20. Lee, Kyounghun & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl & Shin, Donglim & Yoon, Heejin, 2023. "Internal labor markets and corporate innovation: Evidence from Korean chaebols," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 146-162.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:113:y:1998:i:2:p:331-360.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/qje .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.